Ignoring these certain and sure promises of God, over half of professing Christians believe they can lose their salvation. They believe eternal life is really conditional life and it is based on what they continue to do instead of what Christ has done. They say they believe in Jesus, but they do not believe what he promises. Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, he has crossed over from death to life" (John 5:24). Those who are depending on their own righteousness, performing good works, or adhering to a religious system, can never be assured of salvation. They will never know if they have ever done enough. There is no joy when people put their faith in what they do instead of what God has done in Christ. When salvation depends completely on God, there is no chance for failure. Whenever man is involved in attaining and preserving salvation there can be no assurance, only a false hope. 

The accolades keep rolling in: Pope Francis was named Person of the Year by The Advocate, the U.S.-based lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender magazine. It is the second Person of the Year honor in less than a week for the pontiff, who was also named Time magazine's Person of the Year. But The Advocate's recognition of the pontiff is significant because an LGBT publication is such an unlikely place to find homage to a pope. In its summary, the 46-year-old publication highlighted Francis' statement that "If someone is gay and seeks the Lord with good will, who am I to judge?" Read more.

The following video news report covers the pope's shifting policies towards homosexuals within the Catholic Church. See video here. 

Mike and Jane Gendron will be leading another Compass sponsored tour of Israel that includes a 14-day cruise from Rome with teaching excursions in Jerusalem, Galilee, Malta, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, Sicily and Naples. The dates for this wonderful opportunity to see the lands of the Bible are October 16th through November 1st. For more information or to receive a brochure call (972) 495-0485 or email mike@proclaimingthegospel.org. 

Roman Catholicism now represents 17% of the world's population. The center of gravity has shifted southward with more than two-thirds of Catholics living in Latin America, Asia and Africa. Since 1965, 30 million Catholics have been added to the U.S. population but their percentage of the total population has held steady at 25%. This represents the largest and most neglected mission field in the United States. Evangelicals, who embrace Catholicism as a valid expression of Christianity and who praise the pope, are discouraging Christians from evangelizing Catholics. The pope continues to gain popularity in America with a 79% approval rate among Catholics and 58% among non-Catholics. Click here to see an informative graphic illustrating the current state of Roman Catholicism.  

More and more pastors are discarding our Lord's blueprint for building His Church and exchanging it for a seeker-sensitive approach in order to attract a larger following. In doing so, they spend more time entertaining the goats than feeding the sheep. In this week's broadcast, Mike Gendron interviews his pastor Jesse Barrington on the dangers of the church growth movement and easy-believism. Mike and Jesse discuss why pastors fall into this unbiblical movement and what people should do if they find themselves in a seeker friendly church. Listen to the interview here.

The need for greater efforts to encourage religious pluralism and cultural diversity was the focus of a meeting between Pope Francis and the Secretary General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which brings together 57 Muslim countries. The Muslim leader shared his vision with the pope about the need for a "historic reconciliation" between Islam and Christianity "based on common Abrahamic roots." The pope commended the proposal of the Secretary General and stressed the need to follow it up. Read Mike Gendron's comments from his interview with the Christian News Network here.